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Spirit of the 1960s alive and well in Potsdam

Posted 12/23/15

To the Editor: The recent renaissance of student activism at SUNY Potsdam and elsewhere has, predictably, led to a broad variety of reactions. Not all of them are equally coherent and savory. Some …

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Spirit of the 1960s alive and well in Potsdam

Posted

To the Editor:

The recent renaissance of student activism at SUNY Potsdam and elsewhere has, predictably, led to a broad variety of reactions. Not all of them are equally coherent and savory. Some invoke the spirit of the 1960s, either in praise or derision.

That legendary decade stands as a symbol for challenging the status quo and the powers that be. Thus, it is no surprise that a growing number of activists today see themselves as heirs of those struggles, including the Civil Rights movement that ended the worst of the racist Jim Crow laws. Towering figures, such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, sought ways to connect the fight against racial oppression with the struggle against socio-economic inequality, as well as criminal and murderous wars. Barriers were overcome and opportunities expanded for tens of millions as a direct result of those efforts.

Elsewhere in the world, similar dissent took place. In May 1968, over ten million French workers allied with student activists, mounting one of the most impressive challenges to the forces of inherited and unearned privilege on the part of the rich and powerful.

Even in Eastern Europe, ordinary people began to openly reject the might of the bureaucratic ruling class, which dominated the Soviet Union since the Stalinists crushed the hopes and aspirations of 1917. Critical Marxists were among the most systematic critics of Soviet Imperialism in the former Eastern Bloc.

For example, in Hungary, the Petöfi circle opposed the rulers of both Moscow and Washington, while in former Yugoslavia, the Praxis Group exposed both empires as Imperialist bullies. Adam Schaff in Poland, Eduard Goldstücker in Czechoslovakia, as well as Wolfgang Harich, Ernst Bloch, and Robert Havemann in former East Germany, embody the spirit of the 1960s by rejecting oppression, discrimination, and exploitation wherever it manifested itself.

Within this context, a rapidly-growing number of people welcome the return of the spirit of the 1960s, -- which itself was a return of the spirit of the 1930s, when huge numbers of Americans took to the streets, and became involved in labor unions, and political movements.

If one goes further back in US history, more episodes in the long fight for democracy and justice appear in the 19th century, including the Abolitionist struggle to end slavery as well as the labor fight for the 8-hour work day.

SUNY Potsdam’s student activists, and their allies, are in very good company.

Axel Fair-Schulz

Potsdam